My top 10 games of the last generation: 9. The Darkness

Warning, this post will contain spoilers!

The Darkness was one of those games that I really had no interest in playing when it first came out. Sure it looked cool but I was playing so many other games at the time that it went into my Gamefly Q and just sat there. Eventually I got bored and freed up some space in the Gamefly Q so I could get some new games. The Darkness happened to be one of them. Still, I had no interest and it sat there in its protective sleeve, unplayed for weeks. Then I was bored once again and said “Well, let’s just try this out.” From the moment the game started, I was hooked.

The moment I walked through that Subway station, I had a good idea at just how dark and grim this game was going to be. Sure the gameplay did have some problems such as some iffy enemy AI but that didn’t matter to me because it was so much fun. I have to praise the audio in this game as well, the music sounds somber enough when you are alone, but when enemies show up and the music ramps up I went into full ass-kicking mode. It was so much fun blasting away enemies while using my Darkness powers. At times, it reminded me of old school shooters like Doom and Duke Nukem where your old objective is to blow away anything that moves all while rocking to to a totally kick-ass soundtrack.

The gameplay wasn’t the only thing that kept me hooked. The game featured, in my opinion, an amazing story that kept me engaged throughout the entire thing. I know a game is doing a great job when it makes me care about the characters. The moment where Jackie and Jenny are holding hands watching television was a small but emotionally powerful moment. Hopefully we can all relate to a moment like that where we just are enjoying the company of someone that we truly love. Then of course, it happens. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about. The moment where Jenny is killed was one of the saddest most gut-wrenching scenes I have ever witnessed in a game. It affected me so much that immediately I felt a cold chill run through my entire body, and I dropped the controller because I was shaking so much. I was enraged and from that moment, I made it my mission to make sure that Paulie would pay dearly.

Story is very important to me in games and I know I love a game when the story pulls me in so much that I just cannot put it down. The Darkness was one of these games.